Kelsea Ballerini served as one of the co-hosts of the 2023 CMT Music Awards. She hosted the ceremony alongside Kane Brown in Austin, Texas.
On top of being one of the hosts, Ballerini was also one of the performers. Fans were looking forward to her performance, since she recently released a new EP, Rolling Up the Welcome Mat.
The six-track EP chronicles a relationship’s downfall. Ballerini dropped the EP just a few months after splitting from her husband, Morgan Evans. She also released an accompanying short film.
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Rolling Up the Welcome Mat received a lot of acclaim following its release. Fans wondered if Ballerini would sing one of the EP’s tracks during her performance at the CMT Music Awards.
Instead of singing one of the tracks off of her new EP, Ballerini performed, “If You Go Down (I’m Going Down Too).” The song was released as the second single off of her album Subject to Change.
Ballerini just shared the official music video for “If You Go Down” a few days before the 2023 CMT Music Awards. So the song was fresh in fans’ minds when she performed it during the ceremony.
Her performance was fun and full of spunk. Her hair, makeup, and costume were all styled similarly to the way she was dressed in the music video. She even underwent a costume change mid-performance! Ballerini was also joined onstage by stars from RuPaul’s Drag Race, who all had on equally fun and brightly colored costumes.
In case you missed it, catch Ballerini’s performance from the 2023 CMT Music Awards in the video below!